


LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS AND START DOING FRATRICIDE

by Caracalliope



Series: Earth D [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Fear, Future Fic, Loyalty, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Protectiveness, Resurrection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 21:26:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13935753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caracalliope/pseuds/Caracalliope
Summary: Everyone is alive. Everyone, even Bro.Karkat takes a quiet moment to freak out about it.





	LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS AND START DOING FRATRICIDE

There are two days left until they reach Earth D and Karkat can't fucking fall asleep because of Dave.

Everyone's taken to calling it Earth Dick by now, and Dave barely even gloats about that. He looked fine on Altalternia - he was fine, Karkat knows that. He knows Dave sincerely loved meeting Crabdad and feeding him those horrible jpeg fishfingers. He was a little wary around Karkat's neighbors, but that's just good sense. Everyone on the planet came back the age they were when they died and Dave's seen much scarier things than a bunch of teenaged trolls. They were all terrified of Karkat anyway. Being an adult has its perks when your moirailsprit's a god who could take down any droid that comes knocking. There were no droids, either.

Okay, so Darron Tieren from next door left a pair of hog-tied and terrified brownbloods on their lawn ring as a living sacrifice to his new alien god. There was also a basket of Troll Snickers bars. That was bullshit, but at least Dave thought it was funny. They shared the Snickers with the brownbloods and then Karkat took them all shopping for more grubcandy.

Altalternia's a work in progress but it didn't upset Dave. Earth Dick's the problem.

It doesn't take a psychotriloquist to figure out that Dave's upset. He's been both louder and quieter than normal. He is sleeping a lot, or pretending to. He gets callous, then cringingly apologetic, then tries laughing the whole thing off.

But the exact reason why feels just a little beyond Karkat's comprehension.

He does understand the fear and the shame. He knows those better than the back of his shiny new frond-enveloping carapace. Dave can fly now, but he's not going to forget tumbling down the stairs, bro. Karkat gets that, and he even knows what to do about it. It's like a shadow theater's going on in Dave's mind, and Karkat's not invited, but he can provide the snacks and distractions. He can avoid sneaking up on him, and he can make sure Dirk and the others know just enough of what's going on.

He just doesn't understand the family part. Dave's enemy is back, and Dave used to love that enemy. More than Karkat used to love Gamzee or Eridan. Dave used to love him with a wriggler's love, totally unconditional and vulnerable and shamelessly clingy. And then Bro fucked it up. And something about that feels too blasphemous for Karkat to imagine. Even when the whole world hated Karkat, Crabdad fed him and protected him. Bro fucked those parts up too.

Maybe he could ask Terezi what it feels like to have loved Vriska, who made her burn her eyes out. But hey, Terezi isn't here, because she's still chasing after fucking Vriska. Who made her burn her eyes out.

So, okay, the question is: is Karkat allowed to kill Bro. Is Karkat even allowed to think about killing Bro? If he asked John or Rose, would they be horrified? Even Roxy might be. Jade probably wouldn't, but her upbringing was closer to normal than anyone else's. Dirk he can't ask for different reasons.

If it was just a bad ex, it'd practically be Karkat's duty to do it. But Bro is like a hybrid between a lusus, a highblood ancestor, and a terrifying kismesis who had no business strifing with someone that young. Karkat has no idea where the lines are. Roxy's telenovelas have taught him that killing the brother is a bad idea. It's taboo, it gets punished, and it tends not to stick anyway.

So. Of course he's not going to seek Bro out. Karkat's still too small and too mortal to get off on vendettas, and he knows Dave will never have a taste for them. But what if that piece of shit finds Dave somehow? John said he was a loser, but he's also a Strider. He may be an insane puppetfucked zombie, but he's still got to have skillz.

Or maybe Karkat got infected by the shadow theater too. Is he blowing it all out of proportion? Maybe they'll go home and find the man dead in his own piss. His puppet is gone and all, maybe he just couldn't function without it.

Wait, does Karkat even get to hope that he's dead, piss or no piss?

Karkat sits up, slowly. Dave doesn't hold his breath, meaning he's finally asleep for real. Karkat wishes he could just float away, like a godtier grubfucker, but he does his best to creep out quietly.

He needs to talk to Kanaya. She's got her hands full too, but she's going to talk sense into him. He knows exactly what she'll say, too: You Are Going To Do Everything You Can To Protect Dave So Stop Worrying About It Until Its Time To Worry.

Maybe he just needs to see her chainsaw, and the way that she glows in the dark. If Karkat happens to fuck this up, Kanaya can take over. She always knows when it's time to stop caring about the lines.


End file.
